Tag: UK

Humane Society International says UK must commit to replacing animals in science if we hope to lead the world after leaving EU

Humane Society International / United Kingdom

Bliznetsov/iStock.com

LONDON—Home Office statistics published today reveal that the number of animals suffering in invasive, painful and often lethal experiments in British laboratories has stayed broadly the same almost a decade after the government pledged to reduce animal use. Despite the unprecedented availability of high-tech and more human-predictive non-animal techniques, UK laboratories completed a total of 3.4 million procedures in 2019, down by just 8% on 2010 when the government made its now broken promise. Animal protection charity Humane Society International/UK says as the UK exits the European Union, if Britain hopes to lead the world in science innovation, the government must do far more to move away from outdated animal use.

Earlier this month, the UK government published an ambitious R&D roadmap setting out plans to “revitalis[e] our whole system of science, research and innovation to release its potential”. However, achieving that goal will only be possible in biomedical research if we move away from relying on animal-based approaches that don’t translate to humans, and embrace human biology as the true “gold standard”.

Dr Lindsay Marshall, HSI/UK’s biomedical science advisor, said: “The UK cannot expect to have world-leading science innovation whilst we rely on failing animal-based research methods that are rooted in the past. In drug discovery, pharmaceutical safety, chemical testing, cancer research, the data shows that animal models are really bad at telling us what will happen in a human body. As well as sometimes being dangerously misleading, animal approaches typically take a really long time to produce results, sometimes years, are very expensive, and of course cause enormous animal suffering. As the UK leaves the EU and competes with countries like the USA that are taking bold strides towards animal-free science, we urge the government to radically update its 2010 research policy to focus on replacing animal procedures in science. Incentivising researchers to adopt new approaches is as easy as redirecting public research funding towards cutting-edge non-animal techniques based on human biology.”

Hannah Stuart, HSI/UK’s senior policy specialist, added: “It is so disappointing to see the UK animal experiments numbers show no sustained, significant decrease over time. It’s been almost 10 years since Britain’s reduction pledge, yet the UK remains one of the highest users of animals for science in Europe, with the 2019 total almost exactly the same as it was in 2010. In those same years, non-animal technologies have advanced enormously, now making a reduction strategy hopelessly unambitious, and lagging behind other countries harnessing the innovative technologies revolutionising biomedical research and toxicity testing. If we want Britain to be able to compete on the world stage, what we need to see from the UK government is a strategy for replacing animals in science that sets clear targets and is supported by prioritised investment in innovative, animal-free technologies that advance science and accelerate medical progress.”

In January 2017, the Dutch government announced plans to phase-out animal use for chemical safety testing by 2025, and is well on track to achieve this goal. Belgium’s Brussels-Capital Region banned animal testing on cats, dogs and primates effective January this year, and by January 2025 it will also ban animal use in education and safety testing unless deemed absolutely necessary. In September 2019, the US Environmental Protection Agency pledged to “aggressively” reduce animal testing, including removing requirements and funding for experiments on mammals by 2035.

The annual statistics for the number of animal experiments conducted in UK laboratories in 2019 show that a total of 3.4 million procedures were completed, including 4,277 tests on dogs, over 1.2 million tests on mice and rats, 2,850 tests on monkeys, 17,119 on rabbits and guinea pigs, and 131 tests on cats.  Of these, 72,777 animals were subjected to what is classified as severe suffering, the highest category allowed under the law.

ENDS

HSI contact: Dr Lindsay Marshall, lmarshall@hsi.org

Notes:

Home Office statistics on the total number of animal procedures: 2019 3.4 million; 2018 3.52 million; 2017 3.79 million; 2016 3.94 million; 2015 4.14 million; 2014 3.87 million; 2013 4.12 million; 2012 4.11 million; 2011 3.79 million; 2010 3.7 million. It is noted that in 2014 the Home Office adjusted the way the statistics are calculated but this makes only a marginal difference in the picture overall.

Dame Judi Dench, Ricky Gervais, Leona Lewis support #FurFreeBritain campaign for UK fur sales ban

Humane Society International / United Kingdom

RT-Images/iStock.com Red fox lying in leaves

LONDON—British citizens overwhelmingly agree that the time has come for Britain to be fur-free. A new YouGov opinion poll, commissioned by animal charity Humane Society International/UK, reveals that 93% of the British population reject wearing real animal fur, and the majority (72%) support a complete ban on the sale of fur in the UK. The poll also demonstrates Brits’ scathing view of fur – the words that people most closely associate with a fashion brand selling fur are ‘unethical’, ‘outdated’, ‘cruel’ and ‘out of touch’.

HSI/UK released the poll as part of its #FurFreeBritain campaign for a UK fur sales ban, just one day after HSI’s latest investigation exposed horrific suffering of foxes and raccoon dogs on fur farms in Asia.

HSI/UK’s call for a fur sales ban addresses a double-standard left over from the year 2000’s victory for animals, when the UK announced a ban on fur farming in Britain. However, the ban didn’t prevent the import and sale of fur from animals farmed overseas, and since the ban came into effect in 2003, almost £800m of fur has been imported into the UK from fur farms in France, Italy, Poland, China and other countries. In 2018 almost £75m of animal fur was imported into the UK.

Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International/UK, said: “This new poll shows without a doubt that most Brits reject fur, and they want that reflected in British law with a UK fur sales ban. Like us, they believe that if fur is too cruel to farm in the UK, it is too cruel to sell here too. The vast majority of designers and retailers have already turned their backs on outdated fur, so now it’s time for the UK governments to take action. For as long as fur is sold in our shops, Britain is complicit in the suffering and death of millions of fur bearing animals for the fashion industry. British consumers have made their views clear – fur is cruel, outdated and it should be banned.”

YouGov/HSI poll results:

The most significant statistics include:

  • 72% support a ban on the import and sale of animal fur in the UK (rising to 81% of Scottish voters);
  • The public most closely associate negative words, including “unethical”, “cruel”, “outdated” and “out of touch” with a fashion brand that sells real animals fur;
  • The vast majority of Brits reject wearing real fur: 83% have never worn real fur and another 10% have worn fur in the past but no longer do so. Only 3% currently wear real animal fur.

Bass continued “Any fashion brands or designers currently on the fence about whether or not to sell animal fur should take a close look at these poll results from a business perspective. When given free choice of a range of positive and negative words to describe a fashion brand that sells fur, 79% of people chose negative associations – unethical, cruel, outdated and out of touch. The fur trade’s PR spin has failed to shake solid public perceptions that this is an industry that has no place in modern fashion.”

The #FurFreeBritain campaign has received support from a cross party group of MPs, and Early Day Motion 267, urging the government to introduce legislation banning the import and sale of real fur products, has so far been signed by 106 MPs, including Tracey Crouch, Maria Eagle, Dr Lisa Cameron and Tim Farron.

Celebrities have also expressed their shock at the animal suffering for the fur trade, and pledged their support for HSI’s #FurFreeBritain campaign.

Dame Judi Dench said: “I am proud that the UK was the first country in the world to ban fur farming, and I hope we will be the first country in the world to ban fur sales. Fur farming is cruel and unnecessary.”

Leona Lewis said: “I love all animals, and believe they should be treated with kindness and respect. So as an animal lover I would never wear fur.  That’s why I’m a proud supporter of HSI’s #FurFreeBritain campaign for a UK fur sales ban.”

Ricky Gervais said: “I will never understand why anyone would want to wear fur – a beautiful fox who has been beaten or electrocuted, a mink who has been gassed to death, or a coyote who has suffered in a leg hold trap and then been shot in the head. How can anyone want to wear that on their hat or their coat, and how can Britain still sell fur when we banned fur farming for being cruel? It’s utter hypocrisy and that’s why I wholeheartedly support HSI’s #FurFreeBritain campaign.”

HSI/UK’s most recent investigation of fur farms in Asia shows foxes and raccoon dogs living miserable lives in appalling conditions, and enduring painful deaths. Foxes were filmed being repeatedly bludgeoned over the head, resulting in catastrophic injury but not instant death in many cases, and other animals were kicked and cut with knives, or even skinned alive.

Fur facts:

  • More than 100 million animals are killed for their fur every year worldwide including mink, fox, raccoon dog, chinchilla and coyote – that’s equal to three animals dying every second, just for their fur.
  • Rabbits are also killed for their fur, likely to be in the hundreds of millions.
  • Fur comes with a hefty environmental price tag. Whilst all materials have some eco-footprint, when compared to other textiles, fur takes a significant toll in terms of the C02 emissions associated with keeping and feeding tens of thousands of carnivorous animals on a farm, the manure runoff into lakes and rivers, and the cocktail of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals such as chromium and formaldehyde used to preserve the fur and skin to stop it from rotting.
  • An increasing number of fashion designers and retailers are dropping fur cruelty. In the last few years alone Prada, Gucci, Armani, Versace, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, DKNY, Burberry, Chanel and other high-profile brands have announced fur-free policies. In addition, online fashion retail platforms Net-A-Porter and Farfetch have introduced no-fur policies.
 

Which of the following words would you most closely associate with a fashion brand that sells real animal fur? (percentage)
Unethical 27
Cruel 24
Outdated 15
Out of touch 13
Luxury 6
Modern 1
Sustainable 0
On trend 0
None of the above 4
Don’t know 10

Download fur farm photos and video here

ENDS

Media contact: Leozette Roode, HSI/UK Media and Campaigns Manager, Lroode@hsi.org, + 27 71 360 1104

Notes to the editor:

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,682 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 4th – 5th March 2020. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

Humane Society International / United Kingdom

Rebecca Aldworth, HSI

LONDON—Scotland has banned the shooting of seals by the fisheries industry in a move welcomed by Humane Society International/UK as critically important for seal welfare in British waters. Large numbers of seals are shot in Scotland every year in the name of protecting commercial fish farms and fisheries. HSI has long been highly critical of this cull on welfare grounds, highlighting the lack of independent oversight, potential under-reporting of numbers of seals killed, the killing of pregnant females and mothers who may have dependent pups, and evidence that shooting does not always lead to instantaneous death.

The Scottish Parliament has approved the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Bill which amends the Marine Scotland Act (2010), repealing the provision to grant licences for the shooting of seals on the grounds of protecting fisheries and fish farms. The penalty for illegal seal shooting has also been increased to 12 months’ imprisonment/£40,000 fine or, on indictment, unlimited fine/5 years’ imprisonment.

Since the licensing requirement for seal shooting took effect in 2011, Scottish government figures suggest that 1,917 seals have been shot in pursuit of fisheries protection, although HSI says the true death toll is likely to be higher because of potential underreporting and a lack of independent verification of kills.

The timing of this ban is linked to regulatory requirements under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) that come into effect in January 2022, meaning that Scotland would not be permitted to continue its lucrative salmon exports to the US after 2022 if it continued to allow seal shooting. In recent years, the US has been one of the top export markets for Scottish salmon, with exports worth £179m to the US reported in 2019. Whilst this is likely a significant driver in the development of the ban, HSI welcomes that officials from Marine Scotland told Members of the Scottish Parliament at a recent Committee hearing that the intention of the amendments is to enhance and improve the welfare of seals.

Humane Society International’s Senior Marine Scientist, Mark Simmonds OBE, says: “An alarming number of seals are shot and killed in Scottish waters, and there is evidence that some are likely to be injured and die a slow and painful death at sea and may not show up in the official statistics. It’s a huge concern and so a ban on seal shooting in Scotland is critically important for seal welfare in British waters. HSI has worked for many years to provide the solid scientific evidence needed to demonstrate the welfare impact on seals, so it is really excellent news that Scottish lawmakers have listened and put an end to the licensed seal cull in order to protect them from this cruelty.  

“We share our seas with these charismatic marine mammals, and it is simply unacceptable to kill them for eating the fish in their ocean home. It is important that this ban comes swiftly into force and that the situation is carefully and independently monitored to ensure there is not a spike in seal killing in the run-up to its implementation, or indeed illegal killing afterwards. Benign methods to keep seals away from fish farms will need to be deployed and carefully observed to ensure that they are safe.”

Claire Bass, Executive Director of HSI/UK, said: “The majority of consumers are not happy for seals to be collateral damage in the price of salmon, and now US import requirements have introduced a strong economic incentive to call a halt to the cruel killing.”

The UK is home to two seal species, the grey seal and the harbour (or common) seal. Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are among the rarest seals in the world, and the UK population of some 124,000 grey seals represents approximately 40% of the world population, and 95% of the EU population. There are pup nurseries on many coasts between the Isles of Scilly in the south-west, clockwise to Donna Nook in Lincolnshire. The largest being in the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Orkney, Isle of May, Farne Islands and Donna Nook. Less than 15% of pups are born away from the above areas, but there is also an important breeding population on the west Wales coast.

The UK is also home to at least 33,400 harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and whilst there has been a recovery, there is concern about declines in some populations. Only the eastern Atlantic subspecies P. vitulina vitulina occurs in Europe, where its range extends from Iceland and northern Norway southwards to northern France, including the Kattegat/Skagerrak and south-western Baltic. The UK population represents about 5% of the world population, approximately 50% of the EU population, and 45% of the European subspecies. The vast majority of common seal haul-outs are found on the coasts of Scotland.

Seals face a multitude of other threats in addition to shooting, including entanglement in fishing gear and marine litter, pollution and disturbance on their breeding and moulting grounds.

ENDS

Media contact: Wendy Higgins, HSI UK: whiggins@hsi.org

Notes:

In 2017 the US introduced regulations requiring ‘reliable information’ demonstrating that ‘exports of fish and fish products to the United States are not the product of an intentional killing or serious injury of a marine mammal’.

More information about the relevant welfare concerns can be found in these online papers which HSI has helped to produce: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2016.00142/full and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X17307303?via%3Dihub

Humane Society International urges governments to close mink farms in all countries

Humane Society International / Europe

Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

LONDON—The Dutch government has ordered the culling of thousands of mink on nine fur farms from Friday this week, following advice from a team of veterinary and infectious disease experts that mink fur farms could act as a reservoir for SARS-COV-2, allowing it to remain in circulation for a long time.

Dutch MPs were notified of the cabinet decision in a letter sent last night by the Dutch Agriculture Minister and the Minister for Public Health, Welfare & Sport. The investigation by the Dutch Zoonoses Outbreak Management Team follows the Dutch Agriculture Minister’s statement on 25th May that it was ‘extremely likely’ that two fur farm workers in the Netherlands had contracted COVID-19 from mink infected with SARS-CoV-2.

In response to the Dutch government’s findings, animal protection group Humane Society International is calling for the global closure of mink fur farms as potential breeding ground for COVID-19 and other novel infectious zoonotic diseases. An estimated 60 million mink are farmed for their fur in 24 countries around the world, with the top three production countries China (20.6million mink), Denmark (17.6million mink) and Poland (5 million mink) in 2018.

Speaking from Amsterdam, Dr Joanna Swabe, Senior Director of Public Affairs for animal protection group Humane Society International/Europe, said: “The intensive cage confinement of animals on fur farms has always been a potential breeding ground for infectious diseases, and confirmation that mink on Dutch fur farms have infected workers with COVID-19 exposes yet another reason to close this cruel and entirely unnecessary industry. Fur farms typically contain thousands of mink in rows of cages in unsanitary, crowded and stressful conditions not unlike the wildlife markets at the centre of global concern. In addition to fur factory farming being inherently cruel, the potential for zoonotic disease spread, and for mink fur farms in particular to act as reservoirs for coronaviruses, incubating pathogens transmissible to humans, is an unavoidably compelling reason for the world to call time on fur farming and for all fashion companies to go fur-free. The Netherlands’ deadline of 2024 for phasing out mink fur farms simply provides three and a half more years of unnecessary risk. The Dutch government, and all fur-producing countries like Denmark, Poland, France, Italy, China, Finland, Spain and the United States, should commit to end this inhumane practice and protect public health.”

The Ministers’ letter to the Dutch Parliament notes that more infections are expected to be detected in the coming weeks, and that as human-human infection rates decline, mink-human infection could increase the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. All fur farms in the Netherlands are now undergoing mandatory screening, and measures have been put in place including a restriction on both farm visitors and the transportation of mink. Cordons were put in place around the infected farms, and residents advised not to go within 400 meters of the farms. Initial tests confirmed that virus particles had been found in the dust of some of the mink sheds.

Non-infected farms will be required to continue to follow current measures and to submit carcasses of “naturally” deceased animals each week. Mandatory testing of all Dutch mink farms is in progress and the results are due from those tests next week.

Mink fur farming was banned in the Netherlands in 2013 with a deadline for complete phase out by 2024. The Netherlands farmed around 4.5million mink in 2018. HSI is supporting calls by Dutch animal organisations for the closure of the approximately 128 fur farms that remain to be fast tracked in light of the COVID-19 risk. The Ministers’ letter states that the Dutch cabinet is considering whether and how to support fur farms to voluntarily terminate their businesses before the 2024 deadline.

Claire Bass, Humane Society International’s UK Director, responded to the news by urging the United Kingdom to show world leadership with a UK fur sales ban: “Banning the cruelty of fur farming in the UK nearly two decades ago, was morally the right thing to do for animals. It’s clear from the situation in the Netherlands that mink fur farms can act as reservoirs for pathogens that put human health at risk. By continuing to allow imports of tens of millions of pounds of fur each year, the UK is effectively underwriting trade in wildlife that could act as a petri-dish for the creation and spread of future viral pathogens. We cannot lay pandemic blame at the door of those countries that commercially farm and trade in wild animals in appalling conditions while simultaneously providing markets for their products. We urge the UK governments to ban the sale of animal fur, sending a clear global message that it is not acceptable to put public health at risk for the sake of the frivolous fur fashion industry.”

Mink fur farms and COVID-19 timeline

The other main species reared on fur farms – foxes and raccoon dogs – are known to be able to become infected with SARS-CoV-related viruses, with the potential to act as intermediate hosts to pass viruses to humans. Raccoon dogs and foxes in wildlife markets in China were both found to have been infected with SARS-CoV.

Fur farming has been banned across the UK since 2003, and has been prohibited and/or is in the process of being phased-out in the following European countries: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Croatia, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and most recently the government in Ireland has committed to ending fur farming.  Bulgaria, Lithuania, Montenegro and Ukraine are also presently considering bans on fur farming. In the United States, California became the first US state to ban fur sales in 2019 following similar bans in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley and West Hollywood. In 2020, legislators in Hawaii and Rhode Island introduced fur sales ban proposals, as have cities in Minnesota and Massachusetts.

Fur farming, however, continues in other countries with China, Denmark, Finland and Poland being the biggest producers, and globally an estimated 100 million animals are killed annually for their fur.

Take action: Sign HSI’s petition for a UK fur sales ban at hsi.org/furfreebritain

Download video of mink farms in the Netherlands (courtesy of Dutch organisations Bont voor Dieren and Animal Rights)

ENDS

Media contact:

To request an interview with HSI spokespeople (Dutch and English speakers), please contact Wendy Higgins, HSI/UK, whiggins@hsi.org

Notes:
Latest available figures show approximately 35 million mink were farmed in 2018 in Europe, including Denmark (17.6m), Poland (5m), Netherlands (4.5m), Finland (1.85m), Greece (1.2m) and Lithuania (1.2m).  Figures for the same period show that mink were farmed for their fur in China (20.7m), the United States (3.1m) and Canada (1.7m), bringing the total to approximately 60million mink globally on fur farms.

Pete urges fans to ditch fur, calls for UK fur sales ban after witnessing dead animals, tiny fox cubs and horrifically injured mink suffering on fur farms

Humane Society International / United Kingdom

LONDON–A new undercover investigation by TV’s Pete Wicks and animal charity Humane Society International/UK reveals deplorable conditions and distressing animal suffering on fur farms in Finland, a country that exports millions of pounds worth of fur to the UK. The investigation by HSI/UK in partnership with Finnish animal protection organisation Oikeutta Eläimille found tiny fox cubs struggling to walk across wire mesh cage floors, dead mink and foxes, and animals suffering from untreated wounds including a live mink whose head was partially cannibalised by cage mates. 

Pete Wicks recorded an emotionally-charged video for his fans showing footage from the farm. Pete told fans that fur farms are “far worse than I ever imagined,” and called the fur trade “cruel and disgusting.” Pete asked his followers not to buy fur, and shared HSI’s petition calling on the British government to ban fur sales in the UK.

Pete’s video and additional footage and images from from the investigation can be seen here.

If you are interested in interviewing Pete please contact Harriet Barclay, HBarclay@hsi.org 

The UK banned fur farming in 2000 on ethical grounds, but since then has allowed imports of more than £820 million worth of fur from overseas, including Finland. Since the ban the UK imported more than £14 million worth of fur from Finland, and HM Revenue and Customs figures also show sizeable imports from a range of other countries such as Italy, France, Poland, China and Russia. In 2019 so far fur imports to the UK total £25.7million, including over £2.5million from China alone. Finland is by far the biggest ‘producer’ of fox fur in Europe, rearing and electrocuting around 2.5 million foxes every year for the global fur trade; only China farms more foxes globally.

The fur trade claims that the majority of fur farms in Finland are so-called ‘high welfare’, so HSI campaigners took celebrity supporter Pete Wicks to Finland to see for themselves. They found distressing animal suffering across all 13 of the fur farms visited between April and October 2019, with Pete accompanying them to two of those farms.

Pete Wicks said “Despite having seen lots of fur farm footage, nothing could have prepared me for the suffering I saw when I investigated fur farms in Finland with HSI/UK. It was sickening, I really don’t believe that anyone who has seen the state of these poor animals – terrified and trapped in tiny cages – would ever wear fur again. It is great that the UK banned fur farming, but it doesn’t make sense that we’re still selling fur from farms like the ones I visited in Finland.  So I hope this new footage will help HSI/UK’s #FurFreeBritain campaign persuade politicians that fur cruelty should be banned from UK shop shelves.”

Finland is by far the biggest ‘producer’ of fox fur in Europe, rearing and electrocuting around 2.5 million foxes every year for the global fur trade; only China farms more foxes globally. UK fur imports are a double standard that HSI/UK through its #FurFreeBritain campaign is urging the government to address by introducing a ban on UK fur sales.

Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International/UK, who investigated the fur farms, said: “We saw a few hundred of the millions of foxes and mink trapped in miles of battery cages in Finland. These poor young animals exist only as vessels for their fur, as broken and tormented souls. We saw weeping eye infections, infected wounds, dead cubs and cannibalism; all of this suffering to provide a frivolous product that the fashion industry does not need. It’s important for consumers, designers and politicians to see that awful reality laid bare, that despite what the fur trade tries to portray on catwalks there is nothing glamorous about fur. As long as the UK allows British businesses to trade in fur, we are complicit in the cruelty. Britain was the first country in the world to ban fur farming, now it’s time for us  to finish the job and become the first country in the world to ban fur sales too.”  

Kristo Muurimaa of Finnish animal protection organisation Oikeutta Elaimille, who accompanied HSI/UK on the fur farm visits, and visited additional Finnish farms, said: “During my work as an investigator, I have visited almost a hundred fur farms in Finland and other countries. Sadly, the appalling things we witnessed on the investigation with HSI/UK are far from the exception. Small, barren cages and suffering of the animals are the norm in the fur industry.”

HSI’s petition calling for the UK government to ban UK fur sales can be signed here: www.hsi.org/FurFreeBritain

Fur facts:

  • In 2016 the value of fur imported into the UK was £55.6 million. A provisional estimate of the number of animal skins that equates to in that year is approximately 2,000,000.
  • Britain imports and sells the fur of a variety of species, including fox, rabbit, mink, coyote, raccoon dog and chinchilla. Fur imports from dogs, cats and commercial seal hunts are banned across the EU, and HSI wants those existing bans extended to protect all fur-bearing species.
  • Britain imports and sells the fur of a variety of species, including fox, rabbit, mink, coyote, raccoon dog and chinchilla. Fur imports from dogs, cats and commercial seal hunts are banned across the EU, and HSI wants those existing bans extended to protect all fur-bearing species.
  • Since the United Kingdom banned fur farming on ethical grounds in 2000, more than a dozen countries in Europe, including Austria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Norway, have legislated against the practice. The government in Ireland agreed, in June this year, to phase out fur farming and draft legislation to end the practice has also been presented to the parliaments of both Bulgaria and Slovakia this autumn. Several cities in the United States, including San Francisco, West Hollywood and Los Angeles have all introduced fur sales bans and a bill to outlaw the sale and manufacture of new fur products across the state of California was passed last week.
  • In addition to the physical and psychological torment of being confined in small, barren cages for the animals’ entire lives, the killing methods typically used on fur farms are equally distressing. Mink are killed by gassing, and fox and raccoon dogs are killed by anal electrocution.
  • An increasing number of fashion designers and retailers are dropping fur cruelty. In the last two years alone Prada, Gucci, Versace, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, DKNY, Burberry, Chanel and other high-profile brands have announced fur-free policies. In addition, online fashion retail platforms Net-A-Porter and Farfetch have introduced no-fur policies.

Media contact:

HSI UK: Harriet Barclay, HBarclay@hsi.org, office: 02039767962, mobile: 07794354596

 

3.52 million mice, dogs, monkeys, rabbits suffered and died in UK labs in 2018

Humane Society International / United Kingdom

Andrei Tchernov/iStockphoto

LONDON—Home Office statistics published today[1] reveal a shockingly high number of dogs, mice, cats, rabbits and other animals are still suffering in invasive, painful and sometimes lethal experiments in British laboratories despite unprecedented availability of high-tech and often more human-predictive non-animal approaches.

The Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2018 show that a total of 3.52 million procedures were completed in the UK in 2018, including tests on mice (1.1 million), rats (170,665), birds (146,860), rabbits (11,159), guinea pigs (6,445), monkeys (3,207), dogs (4, 481), cats (159), horses (10,424) and fish (300,811). A total of 87,557 animals were subjected to severe suffering, the highest category allowed under the law.

Humane Society International Senior Scientist Dr Lindsay Marshall, who for 12 years managed a laboratory dedicated to animal-free research into respiratory diseases, said: “As a scientist myself, I know all too well the drawbacks of relying on animals to study and treat human disease. The fact is that animal models fail far more often than they succeed, so it’s hugely frustrating and worrying to see the UK, year after year, failing to move away from outdated animal experiments. It’s high time UK research funding bodies stopped squandering British taxpayer money and charitable donations on dead-end research, and made a serious investment in human organoids, organs-on-a-chip, computerised systems biology models, and other advanced, non-animal technologies that are the true future of modern medical research.” 

The government made a commitment in 2010 to reduce animals used in scientific research, but almost 10 years after this declaration of intent[2], the UK remains one of the highest lab animal users in Europe. In those same years, non-animal technologies that can produce faster, cheaper and more human-relevant results, have advanced enormously:

  • Computers are much better than animals at predicting possible toxic effects of chemicals and drugs[3].
  • The discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells has helped to remove the ethical barriers to stem cell use[4].
  • Scientists have created human-mimetic systems of almost every organ in the body. There is a human-on-a-chip for drug testing[5], a patient-on-a-chip is not far away[6] and chips have travelled to space to investigate the impact of ageing on the human body[7].

Dr Marshall is not alone in her opinion. A raft of academic reviews from expert scientists in a range of fields reach the same conclusion for conditions as diverse as autism, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease[8] and they call for more investment in human-relevant methods.

Dr Marshall continues: “Despite staggering advances in scientific technology, medical research in Britain remains irrationally wedded to broken animal models. If our government is truly committed to advancing medical progress for its citizens, and to reducing the use of animals in laboratories, significant funding must be redirected from animals to human-mimetic approaches, rather than the paltry 3% of the UK annual research spend that non-animal methods receive at present.”

The recent closure of two mouse breeding facilities[9] illustrates the growing recognition within the scientific community that a paradigm shift away from animal use is essential for medical progress. Recognition that fewer animals are required due to a “rise in the use of alternative technologies”[10] is a step in the right direction, yet the Home Office animal use statistics indicate that there is much more work required to reduce the body count.

Facts:

  • Despite the ever-increasing growth in animal procedures, there is no corresponding increase in the number of human medicines making it to the clinic. In recent years, both the European Medicines Agency and US Food and Drug Administration approved fewer new drugs than they had been approving earlier in the decade.
  • Most animal models are poor predictors of human response, with over 90% of new candidate drugs never making it to patients. That’s because pharmaceutical compounds that appear ‘safe’ and ‘effective’ in animal trials fail to deliver the same result when given to people; 55% do not effectively treat the condition for which they are intended, and almost 30% show signs of toxicity that were not seen in animal tests[11].
  • Advances in gene sequencing and phenotypic analysis in humans is ushering in the era of precision medicine, and focused funding and efforts on human-relevant technologies like these are more likely to provide disease understanding and much-needed new treatments.
  • Nearly 560,000 experiments in 2018 were deemed to have caused moderate or severe suffering to animals. Moderate suffering is described by the Home Office as causing short term moderate pain or distress to animals while severe suffering causes long-lasting extreme pain or distress.

ENDS

Contact: Dr Lindsay Marshall, 07719 531 675, lmarshall@hsi.org

Notes to editors:

  1. 2018 Home Office statistics: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/818578/annual-statistics-scientific-procedures-living-animals-2018.pdf
  2. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110718/wmstext/110718m0001.htm
  3. Passini, et al. 2017 Human In Silico Drug Trials Demonstrate Higher Accuracy than Animal Models in Predicting Clinical Pro-Arrhythmic Cardiotoxicity. Front Physiol.8:668.
    Luechtefeld et al. 2018 Machine learning of toxicological big data enables read-across structure activity relationships (RASAR) outperforming animal test reproducibility. Toxicological Sciences. 165 1, 1 September 2018: 198-212
  4. https://www.eurostemcell.org/ips-cells-and-reprogramming-turn-any-cell-body-stem-cell
  5. https://hesperosinc.com
  6. Edington et al. (2018) Interconnected Microphysiological Systems for Quantitative Biology and Pharmacology Studies. Sci Rep. 2018 Mar 14;8(1):4530. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-22749-0
  7. https://ncats.nih.gov/tissuechip/projects/space
  8. Savoji, et al. 2018 Cardiovascular Disease Models: A Game Changing Paradigm in Drug Discovery and Screening. Biomaterials. 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.09.036
    Boeckmans et al. 2018. Human-based systems: Mechanistic NASH modelling just around the corner? Pharmacol Res. 134:257-267. 10.1016/j.phrs.2018.06.029
    Muotri, A. R. 2016. The Human Model: Changing Focus on Autism Research. Biol Psychiatry. 79;8:  642-9.
    Bowman, et al. 2018. Future Roadmaps for Precision Medicine Applied to Diabetes: Rising to the Challenge of Heterogeneity. Journal of Diabetes Research. 10.1155/2018/3061620
    Clerc, et al. 2016. A look into the future of ALS research. Drug Discov Today. 21;6: 939-49
  9. https://www.sanger.ac.uk/news/view/sanger-institute-animal-research-facility-close
    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02002-y
  10. https://chemicalwatch.com/77872/sanger-institute-announces-closure-of-animal-research-facility
  11. https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/iccvam/meetings/iccvam-forum-2019/06-lee-ncats_508.pdf

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